


Shut Up and Dance

by shortystylee



Series: A Series of Song One-Shots [6]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 04:32:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12403134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortystylee/pseuds/shortystylee
Summary: Gendry had come up to the roof of the school to get away from the dance, not expecting to find someone there that he actually wanted to go with.Based off Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon.





	Shut Up and Dance

He'd finally gotten away from Lem and Hot Pie, with some lame excuse he was surprised they'd bought. The sound of the rented dress shoes he wore echoed throughout the stairwell as Gendry made his way to the rooftop. All he could think about was getting away – from the dance, from her, from him, and from the pitying looks his classmates gave him. He let the door slam, leaned against it, sighing and reveling in his loneliness. It was short lived, as seconds later he heard someone calling out to him. 

 

"Who's there? I'm out here." The voice was young, so not one of the dance chaperones, but also female, and slightly annoyed, maybe even somewhat threatening. 

 

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know this rooftop was reserved tonight."

 

He heard an amused laugh, and he could've sworn he heard her mutter "stupid" under her breath. He pushed off from the door and turned the corner, finding the owner of the voice, a girl he didn't recognize, dressed for the dance, but sitting on top of a green metal utility box. Her feet dangled off the edge, not touching the ground. 

 

"It's not. Just didn't think anyone else was having a shit time like I am, that's all. Come on over, I think misery loves company, right?" She patted the empty spot next to her. The metal made a hollow clanging noise. "It's not the comfiest but it's better than nothing."

 

She might've noticed him looking her over, but she didn't bristle or seem to mind. She had wavy brown hair, pulled back in a complicated way he couldn't begin to figure out. He sat next to her on the metal box. 

 

"So, what's your problem?" he asked as he sat down. "I don't think I've seen you at school before."

 

"You haven't seen me before. I don't go here – Mordane’s School for Girls material right here,” she rolled her eyes as she replied, as if she couldn’t believe that she had to fess up to going to the expensive private school on the much better side of town. She introduced herself and he echoed his own name quickly back.

 

“So, Arya, what’s a Mordane’s girl doing all the way out here with us public school hooligans?” Gendry asked. “Got tired of all those plaid skirts and field hockey games?”

 

“I came here with my friend Ned, but he left me the moment we got here." She answered a little too nonchalantly, ignoring the joke he’d tried to make.

 

"You don't sound nearly as upset as I think you should be...."

 

"Oh no, gods no," she said with a laugh. "It’s not like that. I'm sort of his beard."

 

He stared at her, hoping she'd take his awkward look as him asking for an explanation. She did. 

 

"Like his cover up. He's gay and he's out to everyone else, just not out to his parents, so he takes me to dances so they'll get off his back a bit. Been this way since middle school. We pose for his mom to take pictures in front of the fireplace, get to the dance and he's off with which ever guy he's seeing. I mean, shit... _my_ parents even know what's going on. He needs to tell his pretty soon or else they're going to be really upset when we don't get married after college." she shrugged, leaning over to nudge his arm with her shoulder. "What's your story? I'm assuming you do go here."

 

"It's pretty normal, not nearly as elaborate as yours. I'd been dating this girl for a while and we just broke up. Found out she'd been cheating with me. I didn't wanna come to the dance but my friends made a big deal, since it's our senior year and all, so I agreed to come anyways."

 

"Then what's got you upset?"

 

"She's here, of course. With  _him_. Some puny little Targaryen fuckhead with silver hair and a lavender tux. Everywhere I look they're there... and she is hanging all over him. It's disgusting. I just want to sit here, wait until it's over, go home, eat some pizza and watch Walking Dead. I'm sure all I'll hear on Monday is about Bella and her new boyfriend. It's gonna be the talk of the whole damn school. Just what I needed right before finals."

 

She turned to him and laughed, laughed at him, not with him. "Sorry to laugh, it's just... Look at the two of us," she said, gesturing back and forth with her hands between the two of them. "How pathetic are we? I go to dances with a guy I know is going to ditch me, and you're up here moping because of your ex. I don't usually say this type of shit, but I'm in a generous, honest sort of mood and may have had half a flask in the ladies'," she explained, pausing to pick up a silver flask and pass it over to him before continuing, "...but you're gorgeous... and this Bella is an idiot for cheating on you."

 

"What?" He was grateful he'd only gotten to flask to his lips and not taken a drink, otherwise his new friend would be covered in cheap whiskey. 

 

"You are! This almost too long black hair, deep blue eyes... and I can tell you're not scrawny under that suit. And I mean, if you're into pizza and zombies, you're pretty much perfect."

 

_What is going through this girls head? She's got a plan going, and I'm pretty certain I'm going to either hate it or absolutely love it_. 

 

"You know what? We are gonna go in there, we're gonna dance and have a great time." She stood up and he finally got a look at her. Deep green dress that came down to just above her knees, no jewelry, and when she turned just slightly, he saw that while the front had a high-cut neckline, the back of her dress was non-existent, dropping down as far as it could go. He noticed strong shoulders and two dimples at the small of her back. She grabbed his hand and he realized she only came up to his shoulders, then looked down and saw that instead of some sort of strappy sandal or death-defying high heels like Bella always wore, she had on flats. Not just any flats, charcoal grey low-top Converse, which looked as if the owner had spent years living in them. "You say you're worried about your ex and this new guy being the talk of the school on Monday? That's no longer an issue."

 

She started to pull him towards the door to go back inside, and she turned towards him, noticing the bit of apprehension in him. Gendry was watched as she leaned her head to the side, starting to move her thumb back and forth across his hand. "Come on, Gendry," she said, winking, trying to encourage him. "Let's give them something to talk about."

 

He followed her down the stairwell, back into the decorated gym, and all the way out in the dance floor until they were right smack in the middle. Their school wasn't huge, and Gendry could feel the eyes of the majority of his graduating class on him as he was led across the dance floor by a girl that no one had ever seen before.

 

“Are you sure you don’t wanna be, ya know, off to the side?” he asked, nodded his head towards the side of the gym floor.

 

“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, I seem to recall you’ve got a statement to make. Something about how you’re over your ex and having a great time without her. That’s pretty hard to do if you’re off to the—“ Arya stopped mid-sentence when she heard the song end, and up-beat pop song that’d been all over the top 40 stations for months now. It was replaced by a slow song, and he heard Arya mutter something about that being a cliché under her breath.

 

“Well, come on now,” she continued, grabbing his hands to position them properly for this type of dance. While everyone else stood with their bodies flush together, hugging and swaying rather than actually dancing, Arya guided one hand to the small of her back and pulled his other out to her right side.

 

“You’re joking right now, yea? Are we going to waltz, my lady?” he asked, and was met with her squeezing his hand quite a bit tighter.

 

“Waltz? To this? It’s not even in three-quarter time,” she replied with a wink, and then saw his confused face, the same one he’d made earlier. “Rich parents, dance lessons, resentment, life story. Follow my lead and just keep your eyes on me, no one’ll be able to tell I’m leading.”

 

“But—“

 

“No buts. Shut up and dance, Gendry.”

 

XxXxX

 

Ned easily found the two of them once the dance was over, and let Arya know that he was going to the car with his real date and they were more than welcome to take their time. They'd walked out of the gym together, his hand on her lower back, guiding her towards one of the benches outside.

 

"What are you doing next Saturday?" Arya asked. They'd sat for a few moments in silence, Arya slumped over to the right with her head resting on his arm, both of them thankful for the cool night air after leaving the dance floor sauna. Gendry was unsure what to say anyways, and partly because he didn't the evening to end. What’d started as an awkward slow dance had turned into the next two hours of Arya showing off what years of dance lessons could do, Gendry pretending he knew what he was doing, then finding that he was able to enjoy himself more just being around the energy that seemed to radiate off her.

 

"What? Why?"

 

"That's when prom is at my school."

 

"Oh," he replied, until a few seconds later when it dawned on him that she wasn't just stating a random fact."Ohhhh..."

 

"Yea. So, what do you say?"

 

"Two stipulations."

 

"Which are?"

 

"One, it's a date, not as friends," he explained, taking a deep breath and waiting for the inevitable crushing decline.

 

She moved off his shoulder then, sitting up straight and turning a bit on the bench to face him. It was hard to see since the only light was coming from the parking lot lights a few hundred feet away, but Gendry was certain she was blushing. She looked down at her hands in her lap for a quick second before lifting her head and looking off in the distance. "That's sort of why I asked."

 

"Two," he began, but paused for a second to catch her eyes, then looked up and down her deliberately, before he ran a finger over the skin peeking out from the top of the high neckline. "You wear this dress again."

 

"Stupid," she muttered under her breath, making him worry for just a second before she readjusted on the bench, then leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder again. "This is the only dress I own."


End file.
